ICRC denounces ‘unlawful attacks’ in Karabakh conflict

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Sunday condemned indiscriminate shelling in the fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, saying it violated international law.

The statement came as the fighting intensified on Sunday, notably in Nagorny Karabakh’s main city Stepanakert, which has been under heavy shelling since Friday.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said meanwhile that Armenian forces had shelled Ganja, a city of more than 330,000 in western Azerbaijan.

Each side accuses the other of targeting civilians.

“The ICRC strongly condemns the reported indiscriminate shelling and other alleged unlawful attacks using explosive weaponry in cities, towns and other populated areas,” said Martin Schuepp, ICRC Eurasia regional director in Geneva.

“International humanitarian law… prohibits indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks,” said the ICRC, a guarantor of the Geneva Conventions adopted in 1949 following World War II.

The “surge in attacks using heavy explosive weaponry on populated areas is taking a deadly toll on civilians”, the statement added.

Authorities in both countries have reported nearly 250 dead since the fighting began, including almost 40 civilians.

Urging “all feasible measures” to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, the ICRC noted that “these are obligations under international humanitarian law”.

The aid group lamented that shelling has destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and key infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.

“Families are on the move looking for safe shelter, while others have retreated underground to unheated basements sheltering day and night from violence,” it said.

Karabakh’s declaration of independence from Azerbaijan during the collapse of the Soviet Union sparked a war in the early 1990s that claimed 30,000 lives.

Talks to resolve the conflict have made little progress since a 1994 ceasefire agreement.

apo/gd/jj